1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to clothing such as a brassiere having cups and the like and more particularly to a brassiere having cups which stably holds breasts without making a user feel tight and oppressed while the user is in a lying posture while they are asleep.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most women remove the brassiere from their breasts while they are asleep and wear it in the daytime when they are awake. A questionnaire made for a large number of women has revealed that women who wear the brassiere while they are asleep is about 30%, whereas women who do not wear the brassiere while they are asleep is about 70%.
As a result of the questionnaire, it has been found that as the reason why they do not wear the brassiere while they are asleep, “They do not want to feel tight and oppressed.” “They want their breasts to have rest while they are asleep.” But the following problems occur when they do not wear the brassiere while they are asleep: “The breasts get out of shape.” “When they turn, the breasts shake.” “When they lie on the side, left and right breasts contact each other, which is troublesome.”
It has been also found that as the reason why they wear the brassiere while they are asleep, “They wear the brassiere to prevent their breasts from hanging down and getting out of shape”. “Unless they wear the brassiere, the breasts move and are unstable and thus they are nervous.” But the following problems occur when they wear the brassiere while they are asleep, “They feel that the lower portion of the brassiere fits the bust very closely.” “The wire of the brassiere contacts the skin, which makes them feel uncomfortable.”
Most of brassieres commercially available are designed based on a standing posture. Ordinary brassieres are so constructed that the breasts are lifted in the standing posture and gathered forward to keep the outlook of the breasts beautiful. That is, a wire is mounted on the brassiere at portions corresponding to the lower edge of the contour of the breasts and to the left and right side edges thereof in the standing posture to support the breasts so that the breasts do not hang down but are directed upward and gathered forward to prevent the breasts from moving to the user's armpits. In addition, the under cup piece is pulled toward the rear side of the brassiere by a fastener attached to the rear surface thereof to place the left and right cups in position.
The ordinary brassiere is not intended to be worn while the user is asleep. Therefore while the user is asleep, she feels tight and oppressed.
As a brassiere which well-shapes the breasts without pressing the entire breasts and makes a user comfortable, as shown in FIG. 8, the brassiere not having a wire mounted thereon was proposed, as disclosed in registered Japanese Utility Model Application No. 3016829 (patent document 1). The cup 1 is provided with the lift cloth 2 made of the approximately crescent moon-shaped power net at the inner side thereof. Only the lower side portion 2a of the lift cloth 2 is sewed to the lower edge of the cup 1 and the edge of the side thereof, whereas the upper side portion 2b of the lift cloth 2 is afloat from the inner surface of the cup 1 with the upper side portion 2b spanning the upper surface of the cup 1.
As shown in FIG. 9, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-60708 (patent document 2) is the flexible bust cup, for holding the breasts, which has the function of well-shaping the breasts and makes a user comfortable. The bust cup 8 is composed of a stretchable material. The bust cup 8 is disposed in the space surrounded with the chest panel 6 which contacts the upper portion of the breasts and the under-panel 7 disposed below the breasts, with the bust cup 8 joined with the chest panel 6 and under-panel 7. The cup 8 is joined with the chest panel 6 by butt seaming J of the folded ridge lines 6L and 8L of these panels. Thereby it is possible to remove uncomfortableness that is given to the user by the portion where the cup and the outer cloth are joined with each other and make her feel comfortable.
Patent document 1: Japanese Utility Model Application No. 3016829
Patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-60708
However, the shapes of the breasts in the posture of lying on the back and the posture of lying on the side during sleep are greatly different from the shapes of the breasts in the standing posture. Thus the volume of the breasts in the above-described lying postures offsets from the volume thereof in the standing posture. More specifically, as shown in FIG. 10A, the breasts are directed downward by gravity in the standing posture, whereas in the posture of lying on the back, the left and right breasts move to the armpits and spread with the left and right breasts sunken at the front side thereof and shift upward from the position thereof in the standing posture, as shown in FIG. 10B. As a result, the contour of the breasts in the posture of lying on the back spread to the armpits and upward (toward the neck) than the contour of the breasts in the standing posture. As shown in FIG. 10C, in the posture of lying on the side, the left and right breasts shift upward (toward the neck) from the position thereof in the standing posture with the left and right breasts shifting downward from the posture of lying on the back by gravity, with the upper portions of the left and right breasts sunken. Thus the volume of the breasts in the posture of lying on the side offset to a high extent from the volume thereof in the standing posture.
Similarly to the conventional brassiere, the brassieres shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 are so constructed that based on the breasts in the standing posture, the left and right breasts are drawn toward the center of the left and right cups respectively. Therefore when the user wears the brassieres shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 during sleep, the cups are incapable of following the offset of the volume and accommodating the breasts therein. Therefore the brassieres are incapable of stably supporting the breasts, thus making the user oppressed and tight to a high extent.
The breast that is large in under-breast, namely, the circumference of the lower portion thereof and the breast having a large cup size are offset to a high extent in the volume thereof in the posture of lying on the side shown in FIG. 10C. Thus the brassiere is incapable of holding the breasts therein. Consequently the front central portions of the left and right cups separate from the breasts with an inner verge line of the upper-side breast B2 shown by a dotted line in FIG. 10C projects from the cup. Thus the breasts get out of shape in the posture of lying on the side and are unstable. Thereby a load is applied to the bottom portions of the breasts. Because European and American women have large-cup size breasts at a higher rate than Japanese women, the above-described tendency is conspicuous in the European and American women.
Clothing having cups that is suitably used during sleep to support large-cup size breasts has not been provided. Women wearing a brassiere having a large size cup feel uneasy about losing of the shape of their breasts. Thus there is a strong demand for the development of clothing having cups capable of stably supporting the breasts in the posture of lying on the side during sleep.